In the News

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly and the cosponsors of the Metro Accountability and Investment Act (MAIA, H.R. 4900) wrote to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure to urge the Committee to include in any comprehensive infrastructure package the reforms and transit investments for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) outlined in MAIA. Congressman Connolly was joined on the letter by the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Eleanor Holmes Norton, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, Rep. John P. Sarbanes, Rep. Donald S. Beyer, Jr., Rep. Anthony G. Brown, and Jamie Raskin.

“The federal government and WMATA have a symbiotic relationship and the operations of the two entities are inextricably linked. As part of a governing structure unique among national transit systems, the federal government appoints two of the eight members of the WMATA Board of Directors. Federal employees in the National Capital Region use Metrorail to get to and from work, comprising 42 percent of Metrorail’s peak period customers, and more than one-third of Metrorail stations are located on or near federal property, directly serving federal facilities…The Metro Accountability and Investment Act strengthens this relationship between the federal government and WMATA,” the Members wrote.

The letter goes on to describe the reforms and investments included in the D.C. area delegation’s Metro bill.

“The legislation requires WMATA to enact significant reforms to the WMATA Office of Inspector General (OIG) in order to receive an operating subsidy as well as a reauthorization of the federal capital funding contribution established by the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA, PL 110-432)… Under MAIA, WMATA would also be required to improve Metrorail safety, reliability, and operating cost efficiency in order to unlock dedicated federal capital funding above and beyond that of PRIIA…Both continued PRIIA capital funding and the new federal capital investments authorized by MAIA would be contingent upon the three local signatories to the WMATA Compact collectively matching any federal contributions.”

Text of H.R. 4900, the Metro Accountability and Investment Act is available here.
A specific Section-by-Section of the bill is available here.